Fool's Gold
by Lyn Jarewo Wors
Summary: Kurogane wanted to know why this figure was so bewitching, and sought out to discover just that. [AU, KuroFai, Spoilers in later chapters]
1. First Nugget

**Title:** Fool's Gold  
**Rating:** G-ish for the chapter/PG-13-ish overall  
**Fandom:** Tsubasa  
**Pairing:** Kuro/Fai  
**Warnings:** AU-ish, Spoilers throughout for manga chapters 150+, and OCs sprinkled here and there  
**Summary:** Kurogane wanted to know why this figure was so bewitching, and sought out to discover just that.  
**Author's Notes:** Inspired by the song Once by Caleb Kane. HOMG RUN! She's writing a multi-chap fic!! shot ; Nevermind. I guess the way to describe the AU is that everything is _mostly_ the same, minus the looking for feathers part. I love Syaoran and Sakura, really, and they're still in the story, but the plot called for a little AU-tweaking. It's gonna start off a little slow, but don't expect it to stay there.  
**Disclaimer:** Tsubasa and characters belong to CLAMP.

--

He wondered if it were possible to fall in love with someone made of stone.

Not that he would call himself an fan of the arts. Sure, paintings were colorful, vases were shiny, and tapestries were big. They simply held no practical use, as far as the warrior could see. A skillfully crafted, strong and healthy blade; now there was a work of art.

But on this particular walk – scratch that, the princess was dragging him along again – through the finer streets of Japan, something finally caught his eye that wasn't a sword.

No, it was so far from being a sword that Kurogane probably would have been amused had he not been so captivated. He stopped so suddenly that he almost tripped over himself. Tomoyo called out to him in surprise, but he never heard her.

It was a statue, made of marble, in the likeness of a man that seemed too... too... he couldn't put his finger on it, but it was too _something_... to have come from anything other than the wistful passion of another mind. The man was tall, like a young tree, and thin to a point of almost being dangerously so, shirt and long pants clinging to him. In perfect craftsmanship, a long, fur trimmed coat billowed around the statue's sandaled feet; sleeves that were almost foolishly long hung gently off extended wrists. It was almost as if the man were about to play a harp that wasn't there.

What had stolen the warrior's attention the most, however, was the statue's face. Lightly curled hair played around the delicate build of the cheeks and slightly pointed chin; Kurogane wondered, if this man were real, would the tresses feel as soft as they looked. A perfect smile sat under a slim nose, which hovered between two deep, lovingly detailed eyes. They seemed to stare right at him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Kurogane's customary scowl was intensified towards the owner of the voice for interrupting his... _inspection_.

Because he hadn't been gawking. No. Gawking wasn't something warriors did.

The old man seemed annoyingly unaffected. "Imported from worlds away." – he sighed amorously towards the topic of conversation – "In all my years, I have never seen such an extraordinary piece."

"Are you the owner of this statue?" Tomoyo chimed in at Kurogane's side.

"That I am, dear princess," he replied with a genial smile. "And while I would hate to give this one up, I know that it will fetch me a lovely sum"

She giggled, and before Kurogane had a chance to bark at the old man treating her in such a familiar fashion, Tomoyo continued. "What did you have in mind, oji-sama?"

"O—Oi..." Kurogane was somewhat ruffled, he hadn't said he wanted the statue.

Though... now that he thought about it... maybe he did.

"Oh hush, you," she chided teasingly. The warrior really had no problem in obeying her this time.

Except he still glared when the old man chuckled. "Goodness, dear princess. I think I shall let you make that choice. I do believe someone such as yourself could make a... generous estimate of what this statue would be worth. I would feel as a thief any other way."

In an attempt to not bash the geezer's face in, Kurogane glanced back at the item in question. 'Imported from worlds away', indeed; that foreign _something_ the statue possessed wasn't like anything else the warrior had seen in Japan – and he'd seen plenty. Perhaps he was being too touchy-feel-y about it... but there was a story here that Kurogane was almost itching to find out.

His focus swerved back to what was being said just as the princess asked, "What is its name?"

"Well," the old man began, crouching down a bit to peer at the underside of the statue's right hand. "There's an inscription here, on the palm, that I believe is the name. But, my eyes are not what they used to be, and I cannot tell what it says."

Not bothering to wait for the geezer to move out of the way, Kurogane bent at the waist and craned his head to see. Sure enough, there was a faint engraving on the heel of the man's palm. Squinting, he was able to see it more clearly, but it wasn't in a language he recognized;

_Fai D. Flourite _


	2. Second Nugget

**Author's Notes:** has a feeling she's spamming Forgive my sudden fit of inspiration. ;; I think muse is desperate to get as much of this story out as possible before college starts again and eats my soul. Last of the slow-ish chapters before things really get a move on. Also, I really have _no_ idea how long this is going to end up being. oo; Beware

--

He _wasn't_ gawking. He wasn't obsessing, either. Absolutely not. Warriors did not gawk, nor did they become obsessed.

Kurogane's glower was about to get too big for his face as his mind jumped back to the man, who he knew was now standing against a wall of the warrior's room. Fortunately, sword practicing was as natural as breathing to him, or the way the statue broke his concentration could have turned out detrimental – not really to him, but to the rest of the things in the area – as sometimes he got closer to slicing a pillar than he really wanted to.

Fai. Fai D. Flourite. Kurogane had no idea how the language was supposed to sound, but he didn't care. Picturing what the words looked like worked just as well; in his head, the statue was called Fai, because that's what he saw.

And he wanted to know more about what he saw. Especially if there was a living being out there that had been the inspiration for the artist's hand. It was far-fetched, sure – but the warrior didn't mind the idea of breaking a few legs to get the information he sought after, even if the statue was just a statue and nothing more.

But he was having problems believing that still.

A blink later, Kurogane realized that his body had paused in its paces. The answer came in the form of a stomach-twisting sight, with Tomoyo standing before him, silently smiling, and his sword hovering at her shoulder – obviously aimed for her neck. Grimacing at the position overall, the warrior dropped his arms to the side.

"I could have killed you," he grumbled, irritated in general.

The princess's smile merely turned insightful. "You were thinking about him."

"You and your damn mind-reading."

She laughed at his growl, like a mother towards her child. "I do not read minds, Kurogane-san. The look on your face told me everything."

He scowled. "So what. Going off on a wild goose chase isn't going to make me any stronger." Kurogane put some distance between them and picked back up in his routine.

...Hell if he wasn't going to continue wondering about it, though. It was just so strange; nothing like this had ever interested him. Why was this one different?

Alright, now it was starting to really bother him. Anger rose up in him towards the stupid piece of rock that was taking up space in his room. With a fluid stroke and grunt of annoyance, Kurogane split a large pot in the corner of the open room clean in half – it fell apart, shattering.

Tomoyo's sigh echoed out behind him. "Neither will destroying anything else."

"Hmph." The warrior sheathed his weapon.

Butterfly touches settled against his shoulders. Kurogane didn't bother to look. The princess kept her voice soothing. "Japan is at peace. You have found something that I believe you were meant to find, and meant to explore. Resisting your adventure is something that will make you weaker, Kurogane-san."

That was... a confusing thing to think about. He glanced at her with a dubious frown, and Tomoyo just smiled in return. "The shop owner was kind enough to tell me who he got the statue from."

Kurogane was hooked. "Who?"

"Someone that I know, coincidentally." – the warrior turned back around to face her – "I'm sure Yuuko-san would answer any question we have about it."

"...We?"

The princess giggled softly. "Yes, we. You cannot get to Yuuko-san by walking, Kurogane-san."

Red eyes rolled in their orbits. "Damn magicians."

_**o—o**_

Two minutes in and Kurogane already hated this woman.

Yuuko's smile leered at him. "Like that statue, do you? You really don't seem like the type."

His reply was a loud snarl.

Tomoyo ignored it. "Please, Yuuko-san. Might you be able to tell us about it?"

A strange white, small creature suddenly bounded up into the woman's lap, causing Kurogane to frown in surprise. It sort of looked like a fat rabbit... or an over-sized living pork bun. The warrior winced at its much-too-giggly voice.

"Waa! He was so pretty!" Another living pork bun hopped up next to the other, this one black; "Mokona wanted him to stay, Mokona did!"

Thick eyebrows twitched in agitation. "Look," Kurogane barked. "Can you tell me anything about it or not? I'm wasting my time here!"

The princess scowled at him. "Kur—"

"I do not know where he came from."

All paused at the words.

Idly twirling the ears of the white creature, Yuuko continued. "I found him, randomly sitting outside my chambers. There was nothing attached to him to say who he was for or who was the artist or what to do with him. Like someone had lost him or given him up."

"And you just gave hi—...it, away to some old man?" Good god, warriors weren't supposed to slip up sentences like that...

That infuriating, wicked grin was back. Yeah, Kurogane _really_ didn't like her. She acted like such a witch.

"Mado-san is an excellent source when it comes to certain things." – did she just wink? – "He deserved payment, and seeing as he's an art collector and salesman, giving him the statue seemed appropriate."

Kurogane crossed his arms with a huff.

Yuuko turned back into seriousness. "Forsaken or not, the statue was sent here by someone from another dimension. Whomever it was knows of myself, and how to transport by magic. What concerns me, is that I did not see this coming."

"What, you can tell the future?"

"All the time, when it is important." – she fixed Kurogane with a hard look – "I knew that you were going to visit me."

There were too many implications in that statement for the warrior to respond with anything more than a quiet 'tsk'.

"Yuuko-san..." Tomoyo began after a moment of silence, then appeared to change her mind with what she was about to say. "We will be back tomorrow."

Before Kurogane could ask why the hell they were going to do that, they were already standing in the palace again.

_**o—o**_

Blue; the blue of snowy skies and icy oceans – if Fai were real, Kurogane would bet money that his eyes were blue.

It'd taken a terse ten minutes of shouting, an hour of stalking out in the woods while felling anything in his path, and another hour of calming down through sword practice before the warrior was level enough to return to his room. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd known that in his rage brought on by the princess's proposition, he would have been in good risk of shattering what was causing him so much grief. And while he had still entertained the idea as he shoved his door aside, it ran out of his mind the moment he laid his eyes on Fai's marble ones.

He was sitting on his futon now, elbow on knee and chin on palm, brow drawn up in frustration and thought, stare alternating between the wall and the statue.

When he'd finally been able to demand an explanation, Tomoyo told him he was to find where Fai had come from; both because she herself wanted to know, and that Kurogane was meant to. Like shit he was going to do that. In response, she said he was going to either do it willingly, or she'd force him to do so. And when he completely failed to understand why, the damn girl brought up "adventure" and "weakness" again.

Though the order still caused him to growl, he figured it could be a good challenge to fight in other worlds. He wasn't even going to try to wrap his mind around the 'worlds' thing right now – Tomoyo had brought it up a long while ago, and he hadn't paid half as much attention as he probably should have – it made a weird sort of sense. Besides, it was already a sure fact that he could beat anyone here without trying.

For some reason, that particular thought made the warrior raise his gaze to Fai's again. It would be so easy to run the statue through, break it into a million pieces and crush the ruins into dust, that it wasn't even funny. He could do it without trying.

Kurogane's mouth crooked into a smug smirk.

What an interesting comparison it would be to find out if the man this statue was fashioned after were the same way; if Fai were real, would he crumble just as simply?

Now _there_ was a question the warrior was determined to answer.

--

Btw, as far as reviews go, I'm not starved for them; quite honestly, a fav or watch brightens my day just as much as a review does. Thanks for reading! Expect more soon!


	3. Third Nugget

**Author's Notes:** -staggers in- Okay, this would have gotten posted a lot sooner, had I not come down with a horrible case of the stomach flu. xx But all's good now!

--

"Can I _go_ now?!"

The witch smirked. "Eager, aren't we?"

Tomoyo gracefully interjected before Kurogane found it fit to rip the woman's head off. "Thank you again, Yuuko-san."

"I expect those books soon, Princess," she replied with a teasing flip of her hand.

It was so cute the warrior gagged.

"All set, Mokona?"

Bouncing up to plop onto Kurogane's hair, the white living pork bun enthused, "Yees, Yuuko! Mokona is ready!"

"Get offa my head!"

"Waa!"

Kurogane had a feeling he'd be insane before this whole thing was over.

"Once more, to make sure you've got it," Yuuko announced after the two had settled down enough. "Mokona will transport you to different worlds randomly. Should you happen to end up in your own world, you will still be on your search." – She gave him a deadpan look – "Which means no, you aren't off the hook. If and when you find the world the statue came from, report to me through Mokona, and you will return here. "

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it! I just want to get this over with!"

"Kurogane-san."

His head snapped over to Tomoyo irritably. "What--?"

--was she doing with his sword?

With a nod from the witch, Mokona twirled into the air, wings unfurling as a strong wind picked up out of nowhere. Kurogane felt a chill zigzag down his spine as things began to fade and break apart in front of his eyes; this was different from the Princess's magic – then he felt himself being sucked into the unknown. The last thing he saw before being hurled through time and space was Tomoyo waving.

"Good luck."

_**o—o**_

Another strip of gauze was wrapped over the gouge in Kurogane's forearm.

"A statue, you say?" inquired Justin, the person currently tending to the warrior.

"Hn," he mumbled in affirmation. This was ridiculously pathetic. That damn Mokona needed to learn that trees were not things he wanted to be thrown into.

It was going to take some time to get used to the idea that he was in a completely different world. Though Kurogane knew that Yuuko had to be from some other planet, it had been easy to think that he wasn't very far away from home. Here, it was decidedly less of a cinch.

The sky was gold; like someone had kicked up a lot of dust and the wind just couldn't seem to get rid of it. No clouds, not even a visible sun – just a blanket of yellow overhead. While a fascinating change from the usual, it was also unnerving (not that he'd admit to it, though).

"Maa, such a handsome statute!" Mokona trilled from a small table nearby. "Kurogane fell in lovey-love!"

_Hell?_

"Oi! Keep your mouth shut or I'm gonna skin you!"

Squealing, the creature hid behind Justin, who chuckled as he finished the bandaging. "Seems the two of you get along wonderfully."

Crossing his arms, the warrior scoffed. "Wonderful nothing. The sooner I figure out where the damn thing came from, the better."

"Hmm," Justin murmured, smiling as Mokona buried into his short brown hair. "Well, the only sculptor I know of would be Charles downtown. He practically lives in his shop, so you shouldn't have any problems finding him."

Standing, the man snatched and began to lightly tickle Mokona, the creature giggling as Justin made his way to the open front door of the small home. Kurogane picked himself up and followed. Outside, it was comfortably warm, gravel paths branching off of a large, cobblestone one.

"Just follow the main road until you see a lot of shops. Charlie's should be right across from you. It's the one with pots sitting around it."

_**o—o**_

Would Fai's hair be brown?

Kurogane doubted it, considering that his eyes _had_ to be blue, and most people with brown hair had brown eyes – at least all the people he'd met so far, including Justin – the warrior labeled it as a remote possibility. Fai's sandals were probably brown, but not his hair.

...Now _how_ had he gotten started on_ that_ train of thought?

The warrior shook his head free of the bothersome inklings, the frown settling back into place. Right, quiet; Kurogane had been noticing how quiet it was. A few shadows were ahead of him, and he really had no hint either way if they were humans or animals – he'd seen a shabby tom cat run by, and heard a group of children in the distance, but nothing else.

He wasn't complaining, though, not at all. The relative silence was scads better than the streams of babble that'd been coming out of the pork bun sitting on his shoulder earlier. It was a good thing that, without a willing partner, Mokona quickly dwindled down into humming, then a quiet smile.

Though, begrudgingly, Kurogane supposed _some_ good had come from the raving chatter. Things like how the creature translated dialects on the spot so all parties involved could understand; how they could communicate with Yuuko just about whenever they wanted; that while Mokona could skip between dimensions, there was no guarantee where they would land – topics as such. That last bit got on the warrior's nerves, but he supposed he could live with it.

With a pause and a step, Kurogane barely managed to move himself out of the way of a fast-moving object. Said object was startled, stumbling over the stones of the path, and fell flat. There was a sharp sound of something breaking, and before the warrior could bark at who or what had almost bowled him over, the road was empty again.

Save for the splintered remains of what looked to be a large clay bowl, that is.

Mokona hopped down to inspect the shards of it. "Ooh, Mokona hopes that it wasn't too expensive!" – the creature peered down the path with a curious sound – "They must have been in a great hurry to leave it behind!"

Kurogane frowned. "They were running because they stole it." He turned and continued walking.

"Ehh?" Mokona scrambled atop the warrior's shoulder again. "Stole it! Why would Kuro-Kuro think that?"

Somewhat distracted by the fact that the road seemed to be widening out, Kurogane absently explained; "You aren't going to be sprinting with something that big in your hands unless you have to."

"Maybe they were late for something! Don't be so mean, Kuro-bean!"

"It's Kurogane!" he snapped. "And shut up! We're finally here."

The path expanded into a spacious circle, a large well set in the middle. Surrounding the well, as Justin said, were various shops. To the warrior's muted surprise, there was actually a decent-size group of people mulling about; maybe it was just normal for everyone to spend their day here. Sure enough, the pottery shop was right across the way.

And sure enough, a commotion was going on around it.

"That was my _best_ work! Who does that boy think he is taking off with it?! I swear when I find him—"

"Oi."

Sputtering, the irate little man fixed Kurogane with a stern glare. He was just taller than the warrior's waist, chubby and wearing tan pair of stained overalls. Frizzy sand colored tufts lay in all directions atop the man's head, his eyes the same color.

"What do _you_ want?" he demanded.

"I—"

"We know where your bowl is!"

Kurogane twitched. Hard.

The man's round face lit up with glee. "You do! Where is it, my little friend?"

Mokona gestured animatedly towards the road. "It isn't too far down that way!" – the creature then wilted – "But it is broken. The person fell while running."

"Pah! Of all the accursed luck!" he groused, shaking both fists in the air.

Grabbing a pair of long white ears, Kurogane growled darkly; "I'm gonna break _you_ if you don't—"

"Charlie!" came a distressed shout from the shop. "The shelf he knocked into is coming down!"

Horror disfigured the man's face as he rushed back inside. "Heavenly fish water, no!"

"...heavenly what?" the warrior murmured to himself.

"Come on, Kuro-Kuro!" Mokona called, bounding into the shop.

Growling like an enraged animal, Kurogane stormed after the creature. He wasn't here to help out like some lackey! Couldn't he just ask if this 'Charlie' knew about Fai and be done with it?

A symphony of crashes told him that it was unlikely.

_**o—o**_

"My my, sounds like an exquisite work of art, indeed."

Kurogane was most certainly not blushing at that comment while he wrestled the heavy shelf to once again rest against on wall. Most of the broken pottery had already been cleaned up, Mokona having a gay ole time holding a dust pan while Charlie's assistant Rose swept up the debris. Charlie himself was taking inventory of what had been crushed and what had survived while listening to the warrior's story.

"That being said, dear fellow, you can obviously surmise that I have never seen or heard of something so well crafted," the man continued. "I have tried my hand at such statues, but I am much more suited for the wheel."

Flexing his hands and stepping back from the shelf, Kurogane grunted in reply. He hadn't really expected the first world they ended up in to be the one Fai had come from. Would have been dumb luck if it had; at least he was ready for a dead end.

Charlie grinned widely. "Much obliged. I'm sorry I couldn't help you out."

"Hm," the warrior repeated, snatching up Mokona from the floor and heading out of the shop—

—to run smack into a tall, thin, wavy-haired young man.

--

Thank you for all the favs and watches! Hope you are enjoying.


	4. Fourth Nugget

**Author's Notes:** Hmm... I'm not that happy with this chapter, as it feels a little rushed, but technically Kurogane _is_ rushing, so Iunno. xDD Enjoy! Thank you for all the watches and reviews!

--

Kurogane dropped Mokona and grabbed onto frail wrists before the man could fall over, the most bizarre impulse to apologize making him blink. A pair of wide, icy azure eyes lifted to meet the warrior's look of rather speechless surprise. He didn't even realize he was still holding the man until he straightened with a wobbly smile.

"G—Goodness, I'm sorry, I wasn't really looking at where I was going," the man offered, brushing a lock of hair from his face once Kurogane had released him.

Recovering after just a moment, the warrior scowled, though it was lacking most of it's usual venom. "Yeah, well, watch out next time."

The man seemed to find that amusing, for he laughed brightly, then nodded behind Kurogane. "Am I allowed in?"

He needed to say yes, step out of the way, and move on to the next world. Because no matter how eerily similar this guy looked, he couldn't be... there was just no way the warrior was that lucky...

"Did someone carve a statue of you?"

Those blue eyes flickered. "Pardon?"

"A statue. Did someone make one of you?"

"..ahm... If they did, I didn't know about it."

That was a no. Come on, walk away. Leave the man before you take out the anger on him.

Snagging a wrist again, Kurogane tugged the man into the pottery shop, ignoring the resulting gasp of surprise. Charlie gave the warrior a patient, curious smile as the pencil in his hand was yanked away. After a second to get the image right in his head, Kurogane managed to scribble out on the worn desk: F – A – I.

There was a small flutterer of unsettling hope in the warrior's chest as the man looked long and hard at the name. Discarding the writing utensil, Kurogane watched the his reactions carefully, though he was impatient and prompted;

"Does that mean anything to you?"

With a minute frown, the man softly shook his head. "Can't say that it does." – He slipped his arm away – "Is it something important? You look upset."

What an understatement.

"Never mind."

Kurogane plucked up Mokona once again on his way out of the shop. How infuriating; he'd made a fool out of himself, hadn't he. At least, if anything, the warrior now knew that Fai certainly did not have black hair.

"Warp us to the next one."

_**o—o**_

Time wisped around him, soft and spinning. It pulled him in many directions, but the glow at the end was the strongest of all. And when he reached it, Kurogane found himself unharmed atop the roof of a small building.

With a grunt of satisfaction, the warrior shoved a gleeful Mokona off his head and stood. From this vantage point, the whole city was in view. Way down in the valley below, there were many houses nestled close together in a circular perimeter, framing the busy center of large structures and what looked almost like moving pathways.

Turning around, Kurogane was met with a wide grassy field, and an impressive half-dome type of building a ways off in the distance. There were also people, apparently making their way towards said... whatever it was. It reminded the warrior of the festivals held back home.

"Maa, there must be something going on over there." Mokona was once again perched upon Kurogane's shoulder.

He rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

A jump and roll later, they were at ground level. The warrior made it a point to glance at the people around them, but still remain separated from the group. If there was anything that he could do without, it was catching the interest of someone who would likely talk as much as the pork bun did. That might have _really_ pushed him to strangle something.

It took less time to reach the dome than he first expected, though everything tended to appear that much farther from high up. From here, now, Kurogane could see a stage, with rocks set in the ground for an audience to sit on. So it really was like a show.

No one looked to be paying for a seat, which explained the expanding crowd. Interesting; everyone who had shown up so far had very pale, yellow hair. Even the very young and old were blond.

Something about that fact nagged at him in the back of his mind.

Suddenly, the whole area became very quiet, and with his back turned, Kurogane heard talented fingers and arms cause a stringed instrument to sing before he glanced and saw them. Delicate, sweet, but loud enough to resonate over the mass of faces – did the dome amplify it? Certainly sounded that way. A piano joined the slow wave of notes as the warrior took in the player.

He was a thin waif of a man, hair that same faded blond, neatly cut and hanging around the bottom of his nose. Kurogane thought he was too short, but it may have been the angle of the stage from which he was looking at him. The man was dressed in a loose, rather fancy white shirt and black pants, though his feet seemed to be adorned with simple sandals.

But from this far away, while the man was thus far keeping his eyes closed, Kurogane doubted he'd be able to tell the color of his eyes.

Mokona gave a muted gasp of excitement as the warrior planted himself on the ground. There was nothing to do now but wait out the song and catch the man afterwards. Though he certainly wasn't going to complain about having to listen.

This type of music was different from Japan; Kurogane wasn't sure he'd ever seen this kind of instrument before, either. Held under the man's chin as well as resting in his left hand, he ran a long stick over the top of the strings with the other. Something else had to be on the stick to make the sound, but the warrior couldn't make it out from his spot.

People clapped as the song paused, and he figured it must be over, until the beat was dramatically quickened by two drummers on opposite sides of the stage. The other man cracked a wide grin, tapping his foot in time to the new pace. For a moment, Kurogane scoffed – there was no way the man could keep up with that.

Apparently, he could.

Kurogane was near to gaping as the man's fingers flew over the instrument, the stick a mere fluttering blur. Others started to hoot and clap along, urging the man's grin even wider. And he didn't just keep up for a moment or so; this half of the song went on for about as long or longer than the other half did.

Damned if it wasn't amazing, even if the warrior only ever admitted it subconsciously.

Finishing with a flourish and a bow, the crowd lit up and cheered, praising the man's efforts. Shaking out of his thoughts, Kurogane quickly stood and made a bee-line around the back of the dome. Mokona made a whine of protest that went unheard, hanging onto the warrior's shirt for dear life.

The man had just set down a glass of what was probably water by the time Kurogane got there. Their eyes caught, and red ones frowned at the disappointing sight stormy gray one. He would have just walked away, had not the man's face broken into a loving smile and said:

"Kurogane..."

--

ducks any shoes thrown


	5. Fifth Nugget

"What are you doing back here, silly?" the blond asked, his words both confusing and astounding. While it seemed the man was trying to hold it back, there was no mistaking his joy at seeing the warrior. He was practically glowing as he trotted towards Kurogane.

Mokona leaped onto the blond's head, giggling, in turn causing the man to laugh. "Who's your friend, Kuro—"

"How do you know my name?"

Kurogane half regretted asking; all happiness rushed out of those silver pools, the slim body going rigid and pale. The warrior had only seen that kind of expression on a man who thought he was about to die. Slowly, the blond removed Mokona from him and set the creature on the ground, taking a cautious step backwards.

"Oi!"

All heads snapped towards the disturbingly familiar voice.

It was like looking in a mirror for Kurogane.

There was another one of him, standing not too far away, his scowl melting into surprise after a moment. Short black hair, fierce albeit brown eyes, darkened skin – they were even the same height. A tense silence drew in around them, until Mokona broke in rather timidly;

"Umm, Mokona can explain."

_**o—o**_

Once again, the warrior was hard pressed not to skin the damn pork bun and turn the thing into a hat.

Though, really, most of the awkwardness came from preparing to listen to Mokona. The other Kurogane, taking in how mortally shaken the blond was, took to the stage and dismissed the crowd. Thankfully, there was little uproar, and soon the four of them were the only ones left in the area.

Then, there was a name problem. The blond, still rather distressed, had called out "Kurogane", and in the end got neither of the two men to help him – they'd both reacted, which resulted in a glaring contest. Not until the blond nearly fell over with another sharp exclamation of their name did the Kurogane from this world rush over to him.

For some reason, the other Kurogane felt an ache to know what was wrong. Was the blond that freaked out over there being two of them? Hell, if anyone should be upset, it was the warrior of this small gathering.

Because his guide had conveniently forgotten to mention that he could indeed run into himself in another world.

"I assume that goes for the statue-guy, too," Kurogane growled at the creature.

Mokona nodded somewhat anxiously. "Yes."

"No fucking wonder..."

"What 'statue-guy'?" gruffed the Kurogane holding a blond head in his lap.

The warrior folded his arms. "I'm looking for a guy that had a statue made of him. Looks damn identical to the guy you're coddling."

"Well _this_ guy never had anything like that done," he barked back. "And screw off."

"Why did he become so sick?" Mokona asked sympathetically, gently nuzzling the blond's hand and getting an uneven pat in return.

"That's none of your—" he bit back a grunt as a bony elbow found purchase in the speaking Kurogane's gut. He rubbed at the offended spot as the blond levered himself into a sitting position.

"Kuro-meanie doesn't like to talk about himself, Mokona-kiwi," rasped the tenor, a weak smile over ashen lips as he continued to pet the creature. "Once, a long time ago, my Kurogane was badly hurt, and he lost his memory for a while."

Very silent by this point, the warrior Kurogane grimaced as his mind filled in the parts of the story the blond wasn't telling. The rueful shame he found in his other's eyes confirmed his thoughts. It had been a very rough time for both of them – during, as well as after.

"Your Kurogane just scared me, Mokona-kiwi." – A surprisingly apologetic look was sent Kurogane's way from tired eyes – "But it's okay now."

There was a weighing pause before the warrior cleared his throat. "One more thing."

Crouching in front of the blond, Kurogane drug his finger in the dirt, spelling out the three-letter name like he had done before.

"Fai."

Blinking, he lifted his head. "...you can read it?"

Blond hair swayed as the man nodded. "It's very similar to an old form of our language. It means 'penguin'."

"Not your name?"

The man shook his head this time with a faint laugh. "No. My name is Fey," he replied, leaning down to write it. "Pronounced almost the same way. You wouldn't use 'Fai' as a name, here."

Kurogane made an interested sound; he actually felt like he'd gotten somewhere, even if this 'Fey' wasn't the one he was after. At least this way, while he didn't mind before, he could actually put a sound behind 'Fai', maybe use it to his advantage should the man play hard to get. After another moment of contemplation, Kurogane straightened and nodded in thanks.

"Pork bun," he ordered. "Next world."

The other Kurogane snorted and stood, giving Fey a hand so he could do the same. Mokona stared pensively between the two parties, then scurried onto his Kurogane's shoulder. The creature must have waved, for the blond smiled airily and gave a little wave back.

As Mokona chirped and jumped, the sunset twisting out of view, the warrior heard Fey murmur affectionately;

"Stay safe, Kurogane."

_**o—o**_

"Ow! What the hell, don't hit me!"

"Kuro-Kuro is so foolish! He should not have wanted to move on from Fey's world!"

"There was no reason not to!"

"But we would have had a place to stay!"

"Oi, I have no problem with sleeping outside, it's _you_ who's putting up such a goddamn fuss!"

Mokona blew a raspberry from his perch on the lamppost overhead.

Growling, the warrior barked, "Fine! Stay up there for all I care!"

He didn't get more than three steps away before the creature latched onto the back of the warrior's head.

"Yeah, I thought so. Don't pull my hair!"

The buildings here were massive, sleek and sharp, towering into the coppery clouds. A cool breeze threatened to prick up goose bumps on Kurogane's skin. It felt like it could snow, if it ever snowed here.

Everything was alive – the streets were packed with people, colored lights flickering all around like banners, the sounds of talking mixing with the lumbering purrs of the strange, self-propelled vehicles that passed now and again. Most of the people pushing around the warrior were short in stature, giving Kurogane an excellent view from which to study them. They had darker skin – much like his own – and the majority were brunettes, a few blonds here and there.

Those occasional yellow-topped heads reminded Kurogane of what had been on his mind after running into Fey. He knew now for certain that Fai had blond hair. The color would be a perfect counter-balance to those frosty eyes. Not to mention that he had found it rather attractive...

"Waa!" Mokona cried, getting tossed to the ground as the warrior stopped dead in his tracks.

'Attractive'?!

All the gears in Kurogane's mind ground to a halt before they quickly backpedaled. No, no, no. Fai was just _different_, not attractive – positively not.

...Even if he was, the warrior didn't like men in that regard. No, nope, nuh uh. There wasn't an argument to be made here.

Gradually, the skyscrapers tapered down into smaller dwellings, the bustle of downtown quieting in the surrounding neighborhood. A group of children were playing with a ball in the middle of an empty lot, a few adults – probably parents – watching from the sidelines. Straying closer, Kurogane noticed that one of the kids was a blond, with a set of wide, stunning azure eyes.

"Adorable, aren't they?"

A woman smiled at the warrior, her own eyes a deep, royal blue. Curls of gold cascaded down her back and shoulders, twisting in the wind. She was at least two heads shy of Kurogane's height, requiring him to tilt his chin down to see her properly.

Giving a light nod, he glanced back towards the lot. "The small one yours?"

"Yes, the little scamp," she replied with a fetching laugh. "He and his twin brother get in such trouble."

The warrior blinked slightly. "He's a twin?"

"Mm, rare, I know, but it's been such a blessing, really." – Her gaze was far off and tender – "That's Yuui out there. Fai is inside with their father—"

Mokona bounced excitedly. "Fai is here!"

"I'm looking for someone named Fai, or an artist who created a statue with the same name," Kurogane explained at the woman's look of surprise. He growled towards the pork bun, "Except the one I'm looking for isn't two feet tall."

Another raspberry made the warrior huff.

"Ah, I see," she replied with an amused smile. "You looked like a traveler when I first saw you. Do you have a place to stay?"

The implied offer caught him off guard a bit, though he quickly recovered. "It's the thing on my head that's whining about it."

She giggled softly as Mokona hopped into her arms. "Perhaps we can see if there's anything we can help you with for your search?"

"Mama!" The blond boy raced over to them, a wide smile lighting up his young face. "Mama, who's this?"

"...it's Kurogane," the warrior answered. Looking at this boy was like looking at a mini form of the statue back home. Could someone have created said statue in the image of what they believed the twins would appear as later in life?

Maybe it couldn't hurt to stick around for a while.


End file.
